“Sorry,” she said. She hurried on into the Pike, chastising herself for letting her imagination get away from her.
That was when she saw a familiar silhouette.
She stopped short.
It was Theodore Parker.
Theodore Parker, who had told her less than an hour ago that he had to leave to meet with a family friend.
But instead, he was at that very moment emerging from the dark shadows of the Tunnels.
Grace hid behind a column, her heart hammering.
What was happening?
Why would Theodore lie to her?
She turned slowly.
Should she confront him?
By the time she peered out from the column, he was gone.
She adjusted her hat, taking a few deep breaths, and went to wait for Walt.
Surely there was some way to explain all of this, she thought.
But the truth was sinking through her as she waited and he didn’t come. She was too hot. The crowd around her was pushing, the music from the marching bands too loud.
Theodore Parker had gone into the Tunnels.
Was it possible thathewas the person Harriet had been meeting that morning?
She sat on a bench just outside the restaurant, feeling vaguely nauseous. She left briefly to get some water, then came back and resumed watching. But it was soon apparent that Walt wasn’t coming.
After forty minutes, she gave up and began walking toward the Philippine Village.
She had just crossed over Arrowhead Lake into the village’s walled city when she heard a familiar voice. It was beastly hot and thick with humidity, and the water shimmered. Divers were plunging into the lake looking for pearls. Junks dotted the water, and the grounds were thick with banana trees.
“Grace!”
She turned.
“Grace,” Lillie said, hurrying toward her. Her face looked pained. “It’s Walt.”
She grabbed Grace’s hand and together they pushed through the masses heading to see the village’s Model School, the sea-shelled windows of the Women’s Building, the Agriculture Building made from bamboo and nipa.
Walt was sitting amid the crowds on the street in front of the Samal Moros’s stilt houses. He was like a stone set in a river, makingthe people part around him. Earnest was beside him, looking distinctly uncomfortable.
Earnest leapt to his feet as soon as he saw them.
Grace could tell before she knelt beside him that Walt was drugged out of his mind, drunk, and incomprehensible.
A policeman was eyeing them on his patrol of the grounds. He slowed his walk, keeping them in his sights.
“It’s a zoo,” Walt said, gesturing toward the Philippine Village exhibit. “Can’t you see? They put them out here for display just like the animals. They’verankedthem, for God’s sake. It’s wrong.”
Grace said, “Please come with me.”
